Pestalotiopsis is a genus of ascomycete fungi in the Sporocadaceae family.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by René Leopold Alix Ghislain Jules Steyaert in Bull. Jard. Bot. Etat. vol.19 on page 300 in 1949. The genus name of Pestalotiopsis is in honour of Fortunato Pestalozza (died 1878), who was an Italian botanist and doctor who worked in Constantinople and Antalya. The phylogenetic relationships of genus Pestalotiopsis and allied genera has been calculated from ribosomal DNA sequences and morphological characters in 2002. The sexual state of Pesalotiopsis is Pestalosphaeria, which was introduced by Barr (in 1975) with the type species Pestalosphaeria concentrica. This species was isolated from the grey-brown spots on the living leaves of Rhododendron maximum growing in North Carolina, USA.

Hosts

Some species of Pestalotiopsis are confirmed to cause human and animal diseases. For example, Pestalotiopsis spp. have been isolated from a bronchial biopsy, corneal abrasions, eyes, feet, fingernails, scalp, and sinuses from the human body. In 2013, the first case of fungal keratitis caused by Pestalotiopsis clavispora was recorded. Pestalotiopsis species are known as plant pathogens, common endophytes or saprobes in a variety of hosts and environments. The species of fungi within this genus are normally considered as secondary pathogens that can be responsible for a variety of plant diseases, including cankers, dieback, leaf spots, needle blight, tip blight, grey blight, severe chlorosis, fruit rots and various other post-harvest diseases. Pestalotiopsis species occur as generalist endophytes in trees of Western Ghats forests of southern India. In Chile, Pestalotiopsis clavispora and other Pestalotiopsis spp. causes postharvest stem end rot on avocado plants. Pestalotiopsis spp. also cause leaf spot on Japanese persimmon. 19 different Pestalotiopsis species have been found as endophytes from bark and needles of Pinus armandii. in China. Botella and Diez reported the isolation of a Pestalotiopsis sp. from Pinus halepensis in Spain, and Maharachchikumbura et al. referred to a Pestalotiopsis sp. isolated from a Pinus sp. in China. Pestalotiopsis species have also been isolated as endophytes from pine seeds of Pinus armandii in Yunnan province, China, and several other pine species across Europe and North America. Then in 2020, Pestalotiopsis pini sp. nov., was found as an emerging pathogen on Stone Pine (Pinus pinea ) and on Pinus pinaster in Portugal. A new species of Pestalotiopsis from leaf spots on Licuala grandis from Hainan, China was found in 2013. Neopestalotiopsis and Pestalotiopsis species were noted as causal agents of guava scab in Colombia. In 2018, the first report of leaf spot disease of elephant apple (Dillenia indica) caused by Pestalotiopsis sp. occurred in India. In 2021, the first sighting of Pestalotiopsis chamaeropis causing leaf spot on Eurya nitida occurred in China. In the same year, Pestalotiopsis kenyana was found to cause leaf spot disease on Zanthoxylum schinifolium (a species of prickly ash) in Sichuan Province, China.

Uses

Some members of the genus are able to grow on the synthetic polymer polyurethane as the sole carbon source under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, hence show promise as a form of bioremediation for waste reduction. Some members of the genus are able to produce taxol. In 2009, Chloropestolide A, an anti-tumor metabolite was found in Pestalotiopsis fici.

Species

As accepted by Species Fungorum;

Taxonomy

A phylogenetic analysis in 2013 with some of the Pestalotiopsis species are found in the following tree:

Other sources